Limbo

Total isolation. Something that every human, or rather, every living being fears. Of course they fear it. Not having any contact with anyone, not being needed by anyone, and living without anyone. It was basically the same thing as death, and everyone is scared of dying. Why was he wishing for it then? Was his world really so messed up that isolation was something he longed-for. Could he only truly relax in the absolute quiet. If this was all true, he thought that the only thing he could do, was to laugh at himself.

"Sir Fumihiro, sir!", one of the young men under his command had rushed into his tent. The soldier had broken the silence which he enjoyed so much. "What is it?", we're they getting attacked?, he didn't really care if that was the case. "There's someone who wishes to see you sir", he hadn't heard those words in a long time. "Someone wishes to see ME?"

"Yes sir", Fumihiro felt a feeling which he didn't really recognize, but he knew that it was a good one.

He didn't know how to react when he saw Hotaka, the man who he had turned his back on. The soldiers seemed to be having a pleasant discussion with the former assassin. They were laughing when Fumihiro entered the tent. "O-oh!, welcome sir!, this is the man who asked to see you" Hotaka nodded towards him, "Welcome Hotaka, why don't we catch up somewhere else?"

The man who he had never thought he would see again, was currently walking besides him. They were going around the army camp, soldiers who passed them always greeted him with respect, they would simply stop and yell,"sir!", after that, they were on their way. It had given him a sense of pleasure, at least in the beginning. They had made him feel as if he was someone great, for every "sir!", the deep abyss that was his ego had grown. Now, for every "sir!" he heard, it would instead shrink a little. The word would remind him how he really wasn't someone deserving of the position he was in. He truly wasn't what he thought of as "Great".

"You've got a great place here, your men really do seem to respect you. It was the same back then too..."

"If you wish to kill me, you may do so, but leave everyone else out it", Hotaka's face formed a painful grimace. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you"

"Then why are you here?, I already have a missing man and now you want to bother me with something else?!", Hotaka got a surprised look, "So he has already started..."

"What are you talking about?!", Fumihiro was getting frustrated with Hotaka's vague words. "Daiki's going to strike soon, and he wants your head", he was starting to understand the situation at hand now. "Why are you here then?, don't you want to see me dead?", Hotaka smiled slightly. "You're right, I don't really understand myself, but right now, I want to save my brother"

He thought to himself, "you sure haven't changed in all these years", but he regretted thinking like that. Hotaka had changed, saying that he hadn't would be a discredit towards all the pain he had gone through. He started thinking, for the first time in a long while, maybe I to... "Sir!, there's a fire!" Hotaka glanced towards the black smoke in the distance, "It's time..."